Natural & Cultural Resources

Featured Cases:

The Challenge

Natural and cultural resources— from minerals to timber, fisheries to wilderness areas to traditional tribal uses to historic properties —are measured across a host of values: economic value, ecosystem services benefits, and values more difficult to quantify, including people’s sense of place, identity, culture, history, and morals. People may prioritize these values differently or sometimes disagree sharply about what is right and good. What are the criteria for determining whose culture, history, and assets should be preserved and at what cost? What is the proper balance between human activities that utilize natural resources and those that may harm them? How can people ensure protection of wildlife and natural habitats while also fostering economic development? The broad range of stakeholders involved in decision-making along with overlapping management mandates and responsibilities adds additional layers of complexity.

Our Approach

Engage and integrate stakeholder perspectives into planning and management decision-making

Use sophisticated tools to consider and weigh risks, trade-offs, and uncertainties

Explore contested views of history while still moving forward with decisions

Negotiate and resolve conflicts among stakeholders with different values and interests

From developing a Habitat Conservation Plan for the Edwards Aquifer in greater San Antonio Texas to formulating a management plan for the future of historic Dune Shacks on the Cape Cod National Seashore, CBI has helped parties explore values, history, and options and generate actionable plans informed by robust technical analysis.

CBI has a wealth of experience, and because of this, they are able to customize engagements to strategically address client and stakeholder needs. We worked together in Alberta, bringing together oil and gas executives and indigenous communities. CBI helped us resolve legacy issues, develop a common language, and craft a path forward. There was a big return economically and socially for both the companies and the indigenous communities.